Barfab Powers up with XLERPLATE®

Location:	Brisbane, Queensland
Country:	Australia
Fabricator:	Barfab
Products Used:	AS/NZS 3678 - 250 XLERPLATE® steel

An energetic young Brisbane fabrication company, Barfab, is powering to new heights, with the manufacture of five massive transformer tanks for leading international energy company, Areva. Established in April 1998, by Tim and Anita Bartrop, the family owned business has grown to employ 100 employees.

Tim started out consulting to leading power and automation company, ABB, on ways to improve the fabrication section of their transformer making facility. "I liked the company so much, I bought it!" says Tim. "We started primarily making transformer tanks for ABB, and we now have a full blown boiler making business. We took over a section of ABB's factory and we built the business up from there," adds Tim. 

One of Barfab's many areas of expertise is the fabrication of transformer tanks for the electrical industry. "They are quite a complex item to manufacture," explains Tim. "Firstly, the measurements and dimensions of the tank have to be very accurate, as the transformer must fit very precisely in the tank. Secondly, the transformer tank is full of oil, which surrounds the transformer itself, to keep it insulated and cool, and it's vital that the tank doesn't leak. If the tank leaks oil, the transformer will overheat, blow up and result in a power cut." 

Barfab is currently manufacturing five transformer tanks for Areva, a French owned consortium that has recently bought out most of Alstom's businesses around the world. "We've been dealing with Areva, formerly Alstom for about five years now," says Tim. "We have an established relationship with them and are a preferred supplier of theirs."

The tanks are for a new transmission line under construction in Mt Newman in Western Australia. The transformers will receive power at high voltage, and transform it to a lower voltage. The power is transmitted along high voltage lines, and the voltage is reduced further, until it reaches the design voltage for the system at Mt Newman. These tanks are rated at 30/36 MVA and will operate at 132,000 Volts. 

Each tank takes six weeks to build, with two shifts per day in the factory. "The first tank was completed and delivered at the end of April," says Tim. "Once complete, the units will be shipped to Western Australia by road transport in a knocked down format."  The tanks themselves are huge. "The basic tank measures 3 metres high, 6 metres long and 2 metres wide," explains Tim. "When complete, with transformer installed, the tanks will each weigh 57 tonnes. Fully assembled, they stand over 9 metres high, nearly touching the roof of the factory! This project has really tested our facilities to the limit."

Each tank consists of 8 tonnes of 250 grade XLERPLATE® hot rolled plate steel from BlueScope Steel, in thicknesses of up to 32mm. According to Tim, using locally produced steel is important to the business. "We are a family owned, Australian company, and we'd always prefer to use Australian owned products. We try to keep as much Australian content in our products as possible, which is why we use XLERPLATE®. We are one of the largest users of 5mm XLERPLATE® in Australia. All up, we use about 1,500 tonnes of steel from BlueScope Steel per year." 

He says that reliable lead times are also a plus. "We are dealing with extremely tight deadlines, so a good supplier is absolutely critical to the business. Lead times have always been excellent, we can order steel one day and it's with us the next day. However, we do try and forecast the week ahead in order to minimize truck loads."

According to Tim, the future for Barfab is looking good. "Queensland is in a growth phase at the moment, people are using more power, so there are plans to upgrade the transformer network, taking out smaller transformers and replacing them with larger ones. As we are heavily aligned with the electrical industry, the outlook is pretty bright for the next year."